Profile

Areas of expertise

Individual Budgets / Personal Budgets – outcomes for service users and the impacts and outcomes for informal carers

International long-term care policies

Care provision within families

Transition from child to adult services for young people with disabilities, and in particular for young people on the autistic spectrum

Social Policy advisory positions

Awards Officer and Executive Committee member for the Social Policy Association

Member of the ESRC Peer Review College

Academic biography

I joined the Department for Social Policy and Social Work in 2015, following a period of nine years working in the Social Policy Research Unit (SPRU).

I am a qualitative social science researcher with experience and expertise in evaluative work. I have worked on the National Evaluation of Sure Start (NESS), the national evaluation of the individual budgets pilots in adult social care (IBSEN study), and the evaluation of the impact and outcomes of Individual budgets on carers (IBSEN-Carers study). I also worked on international projects looking at financing long-term care and also at the impact of caring on family carers.

I went on to develop an interest and expertise in transition issues working first on exploring models of multi-agency transition services for young people with disabilities and complex health needs, and then on transition to adult services and adulthood for those on the autistic spectrum focusing in particular on those with high-functioning autism or Asperger's Syndrome.

My interest in personalisation continues: recent work with colleagues at RMIT, Melbourne, Australia to explore the information support needs of those using individualised funding in England and Australia. New research projects are being planned with colleagues at RMIT and Newcastle University (Australia).

I also have a long-standing interest in mental health which has been a focus in much of my previous research as well as in my current project which is around policing and mental health. My role involves designing mental health training for police officers within North Yorkshire Police, evaluating the impact of the training, and assisting in training the police to better understand and use research to provide an evidence base for their work.